With Me In Paradise
by Used Happiness Salesman
Summary: A few months the end of the Reaper War, Liara attempts to deal with the loss of her love as her life begins to change in a way she hadn't expected. Meanwhile, a pair of men are set to complete a mysterious mission. Set after the Synthesis Ending.
1. Prison Break

**Hello hello hello, and welcome to my newset fic. Some of you may remember me (although you probably don't) from this Mass Effect fic I wrote AGES ago but it just went stale after a while. Well, I've recently been getting back into the fandom of RP and I thought I'd give fic writing a new shot.**

**Please leave a review, and enjoy :)**

**Also, I promise Liara will come in next chapter for all you fans out there ;)**

* * *

**_With Me In Paradise_**

Chapter 1: Prison Break

It was in the evening, and as usual it was pissing it down with rain on the Batarian colony on Lorek. These thunderstorms were very common on one side of the planet, which was why most of the civilian population lived on the hotter, sunnier side of the planet and the cold, wet side was left for industrial buildings, military ports, and most importantly, prisons.

It was in one of the more secretive prisons now that two of the planets residents, a pair of Batarians suited in combat walked to meet with their newest prisoner.

"You searched him?" one asked the other. He was dressed in the armour of a ranking official; he was the leader of the Batarians in this prison.

"Yes sir. He was unarmed." his colleague replied.

"What about the ship he arrived on?"

"It was protected by some powerful auto locking system. We couldn't hack it open so we had to use plasma torches."

"And?"

"It appears the ship has been outfitted to double as a surveillance centre. It appears that there has been someone living in it for some time."

"I see…was there anything salvageable from the craft?"

"We'll be attempting to the remove the surveillance equipment after the prisoner has been dealt with, sir. Also, there was a large supply of ammunition, an M-6 Carnifex, an M-22 Eviscerator, an M-15 Vindicator, a large supply of human media and what appear to be enlarged replicas of human gambling products bound by a string made from a furry, soft substance."

The batarian leader stopped, and looked at his colleague. "…what?"

"I said we found what appears to be enlarged replicas of-"

"I heard what you said, idiot. I was just wondering what the hell was going through your head when you thought that was worthy of mention."

"…I'm sorry, sir. I thought maybe he could attempt to strangle one of us with them."

"So your saying that he might reach for a pair of fuzzy dice to assault us with opposed to guns that you found?"

"…is that what they are called, sir?"

The leader smacked him upside the head, and jerked his head down the hall. "Come on. Take me to him."

The bruised soldier nodded, shaking his head slightly, and walked down the hall. Despite the prison being very lacking in prisoners as of currently, and noise from the rain pounding against the roof was enough to keep anyone awake all night. However, as the two batarians made their way further through the complex, is became apparent there was another noise.

"_There ain't no sunshine when she's gooooone…it's not warm she gone awaaaaaaaaay…."_

"What the fuck is that?" the leader said, tilting his head as he walked down the hall.

"That's the prisoner, sir. When we chained him up he started singing…whatever he's singing. We couldn't make him stop."

The leader sighed, and marched faster down the hall, motioning for his colleague to guard the door and bursting into the prisoner's cell. The human prisoner had been hung by from the roof by a chain that was wrapped around his legs, and his hands were bound.

"AND SHE'S ALWAYS GONE TO LONG," the prisoners was singing, get increasingly loud, "ANYTIME SHE GOES AWAAAAAAAAA-"

The leader walked right up to where he was hanging and punched him in the stomach, causing him to swing back and forth. The prisoner coughed painfully as the leader closed the door behind him.

"…what, you don't like Bill Withers?" he wheezed, trying to suck some air back into his lungs.

"No. Now shut up." the leader snapped. "I need to as-"

"What about Pink Floyd?" the prisoner carried on. "I love those guys."

He started singing loudly again. "THERE IS NO PAIN, YOU ARE RECEEDING. A DISTANT SHIP, SMOKE ON THE HORIZON…"

"Stop it." the leader hissed irritably. "Stop it. Now!"

"YOU ARE ONLY COMING THROUGH YOUR WAVES…."

"I said shut up!"

The prisoner shook his head at him as he sung. "YOUR LIPS MOVE, BUT _I CAN'T HEAR WHAT YOUR SAYING…"_

The leader punched him yet again, causing him to swing around again. The prisoner grunted in pain, and began coughing again.

"…your hard to please, aren't you?" he said, looking up at him, obviously hurt but still smirking a bit.

The leader glared at him, and then rubbed his temples.

"I'm going to ask you some questions, human. And your going to answer them."

"I've been interrogated before, mate. I know the set up. Although I've never been hung from the roof before during it…"

"It makes it easier for me to hurt you." the leader replied.

"…or couldn't afford an electric chair?" the prisoner asked.

The leader suddenly leant down and stared at him, his face only a few inches away from his.

"Listen, smartass. There's only one question I need to ask you because we both know why you're here."

"…we do?" the prisoner replied.

The leader stared hardly at him, "Where's the Drell?"

* * *

Outside, three guards (the ones that had drawn the short straw) were standing watch on the roof's landing pad. The thunderstorm caused a deafening amount of noise, and so the other two guards never heard their colleague get pulled off the pad while he was standing close to the edge, and they never heard the Drell assailant coming until the moment before they're necks were broken. Throwing the bodies off the roof, the Drell found a nearby air vent and slipped through it, descending into the facility's shuttle bay…

* * *

The prisoner raised his eyebrows with mock confusion. "Who?"

The leader punched him yet again, this time in the face, leaving a particularly nasty cut below his eye.

"I know everything about you two, and your little ploy." he said. He leaned close to him. "You think you can kill me?"

"Well, yeah." the prisoner said. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here. Duh."

* * *

The shuttle bay of the prison was currently busy with the silent workings of four engineers as they scanned and searched the small ship the prisoner had been found in. It was an old model; not exactly as advanced as the other craft in the bay and it had seen some history, although in reality the old thing would run like clockwork, and could out run any of the other craft in the bay any day. The rain wasn't as loud here; the constant, muffled, noise almost relaxed the engineers. As one walked away to upload his findings to the database, the Drell suddenly stepped out the shadows and grabbed him, one hand firmly clamped of his mouth and one restraining him. After a few moments, he ran out of air and the Drell deposited him in the dark corner, and moved towards the other engineers.

* * *

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?" the batarian leader said, watching the prisoner swing from after he'd hit him for his last comment. "I've run the authority on this colony for years. I kept it safe when the Reapers were coming to kill us all. I am the law here."

"'Run?' More like dictated." the prisoner scoffed. "Made your own little dictatorship, haven't you? Harsh taxes on the people, poor living conditions. You're leeching off the people you should be protecting. And that's not to mention the gun running. Frankly, I don't think anyone's going to mourn you."

* * *

The first engineer was an easy picking, examining the thruster on the side of the ship. He knocked him out in the same fashion he had with the previous engineer. The other two were inside the ship, and he positioned himself near the door. He peaked in; the two engineers were both examining the same computer. He leaned back out, and then knocked on the side of the ship with his knuckles.

There was a pause.

"Vashk?" came one of the engineers voices.

Another pause. The Drell held his breathe.

"…something wrong?" came a voice. Footsteps.

As soon as the engineer came round the corner, the Drell lashed out with elbow, striking the engineer in the stomach. As he doubled over, he grabbed him by the back of the head, twisting it and driving his knee into the engineer's temple. As he went sprawling backwards, cracking his head again against the wall, his colleague sprung to attention, looking for a weapon and quickly finding one in a nearby welding tool. He swung it clumsily at his sudden attacker, but was quickly disarmed as the Drell grabbed his arm and twisted it violently. There was a loud crack, and the engineer gasped, dropping the tool allowing the Drell to follow up his counter attack with a haymaker to the face. The engineer was knocked out cold. With the engineers knocked out, the Drell began to prep the ship to fly…

* * *

"…how do you know that?" the leader said, staring at him wide eyed.

"You really don't cover your tracks as well as you think you do, y'know." the prisoner said. "All those credit transactions, extranet conversations, video calls, survalience feeds. All just sitting there, waiting for me to find them."

He paused for a moment. "Oh, and just a suggestion: delete your browsing history before someone looks at it. Honestly, I'm not really into that Hanar stuff, and I'm _really _not into the Elcor stuff."

* * *

In the hall that leads out of the shuttle bay, someone knocked on the door. The two batarian guards standing watch looked to the door.

"Hey, come on, you don't need to knock. Cut that shit out." One of them said, rolling his eyes.

There was no reply.

"…hello?" he shouted again.

Silence.

The two guards looked at each other. One of them motioned towards the door, and they both raised they're guns, moving towards it. One went on point as the reached for the door control. The door swished open, and...

The leader stared at him dumbfounded. Suddenly, his face turned into a snarl and he drew his pistol, crouching down and pushing it against the prisoners head.

"What is that Drell planning?" he barked.

The prisoner shrugged. "Pfft. I dunno."

"You think I'm playing around? I'll vent your fucking head against the wall if you don't tell me, I swear."

…nothing.

The two guards stared out, and looked around, surprised at the seemingly empty shuttle bay

"Uhh…hello?" one of them called, stepping out. His foot landed on something, and he looked down.

It was a vent cover.

Behind them, one of the vent covers on the roof fell to the ground. By the time they'd whirled around they'd both been shot in the head by the Drell, wielding a Locust SMG.

"What the hell is going on out there?" came a shout as another of the Batarian guards - suited in bladed armour - exited a nearby room. As soon as he saw the Drell, he raised his rifle but it was quickly pulled out of his hands by the Drell's biotics.

The Drell fired at him, but the guard had a strong shield, and he didn't even stumble as he rushed at him. The Drell dodged the charge, and holstered his SMG, pulling out what look like a small metal rod.

"Ha!" the Batarian laughed. "What do you think you're going to do with tha-"

In a flash, the Drell leaped at him, the rod extending into a staff. He struck him once, twice, thrice across the face in quick succession with the staff, before sweeping the discombobulated Batarian off his feet with the bo staff, and sending a biotically charged punch into his face…

* * *

"Easy, mate. You might hurt someone with that." the prisoner said.

The sound of footsteps could be heard outside.

"I am not your mate, human. Tell me who sent you!" the leader shouted, which conveniently covered up the loud thumping sound that came from behind the door.

"Okay, okay, jeez…calm down." the prisoner said, rolling his eyes. "Look, basically, he knows about that whole paranoia thing you've got going where you lock yourself in the control room of this place and put the whole place on maximum security while you sleep, right?"

The leader just stared at him.

"So, he got this idea that if you were to find me just, I dunno, flying around real close to your security towers in an unidentified craft, you'd interrogate me personally providing you know about this whole assassination thing that's gonna go down, right?"

"…what are saying?" the leader said, suddenly looking a bit nervous.

"Basically, I came here and got myself arrested, so you'd come out of the lockdown and interrogate me yourself so he'd be able to get to you easier. Get it?"

The leader stared at him.

"…WHAT? He's here? Right now? Where?" the leader said, suddenly panicking and losing the fearsome exterior he'd once had. "Tell me!"

"Oh yeah, sure. He's behind you." the prisoner said, smiling sweetly.

The batarian's eyes went wide, and he whirled around…only to be met with the barrel of a gun.

The Drell fired, and the back of the leader's head burst open as the bullet slammed into his head, sending blood spraying all over the prisoner. He fell to the floor, dead.

"Oh, come on, man. I just cleaned these clothes." the prisoner groaned.

"We're leaving, Oz. Now." the Drell said. He quickly untied the chains around Oz's legs.

"Christ steady on…GAH!" Oz shouted as he fell to the ground. "You could've at least helped me down."

The Drell didn't reply. He was looking out the door, left and right. He looked back to Oz.

"Come on. Hurry up." he said, motioning and darting out the door.

"…not even a 'Hey, Oz. How was the interrogation?'" Oz grumbled as he got to his feet, grabbing the dead leaders pistol as he left and stepping over the body of the guard outside. "'Oh, it was just fine. I almost got my nose broken and shot in the head, but no sweat man'."

"What was that?" the Drell said, looking over his shoulder.

"Oh. Nothing." Oz said, rolling his eyes.

"No, not you. I can hear something…" the Drell said, looking around.

Suddenly, the door at the opposite end of the hall burst open, revealing a group of guards. The Drell suddenly grabbed Oz by the back of his jacket and began pulling him along as he ran, much to Oz's surprise.

"Prisoner escaped! Open fire!" one of the guards shouted as a hail of bullets suddenly descended on them. The Drell enveloped the two of them in a biotic barrier as he ran which deflected the bullets until they reached the end of hall. The two of them ran towards the shuttle bay, bursting through the door and running to their ship.

"They'd better have not touched her." Oz said as he ran to the ship.

"They did." The Drell replied bluntly.

"Bastards!" Oz swore to himself. They both ran into the craft, and while the Drell threw the bodies of the engineers out of the open door he ran to the pilot seat and began to start it.

"Huh. You prepped it. How thoughtful." Oz said, his fingers flying over the control.

"I think ahead." The Drell replied.

"Clearly."

The shuttle bay door burst open, and the batarian guards ran in, opening fire on their craft.

"Jesus Christ, get the door shut!" Oz called as bullets slammed against the side of the ship. The Drell closed the ship's door, and suddenly the ship's thrusters burst into life. It lifted into the air as the shuttle bays doors detected a craft taking off and opened, and in the fastest get away from a batarian prison in a long time, they took off into the night and set fire to several of the guards with the thrusters in the process.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and when the ship broke the planet's atmosphere, Oz let out a sigh of relief.

"…well, that was close." he said, smiling. "Closer than the last one."

The Drell didn't reply. He was staring out the window into space.

"Think I could use some music and a cup of tea. Have I ever shown you Beck? Some of his stuff is really chilling."

The Drell still didn't reply, but Oz continued anyway.

"You know, I think I could probably get some medi-gel on this cut. It's pretty deep. Think it'll scar? Probably not." Oz said as he got up for a moment and let the ship's auto pilot carry them along. "Well, _that guy_. He was a piece of work. You know, the moment he realised you were in the building it looked like he'd shit his pants."

The Drell was still silent, and Oz rolled his eyes.

"…are you even listening to me?" he said. "…Shalnq?"

Shalnq continued to stare out the window.

"We need to go to the next target soon." he said.

"What, now? Come on, man. We barely get a rest as it is." Oz said, staring at him in disbelief.

"I just want this to be over the done with…" Shalnq said, staring out the window. It hadn't been too long since the end of the Reaper War; the galaxy was still repairing itself, but it seemed that many people, that batarian included, were apart of a list of people that couldn't wait to start exploiting people and making money through criminal activity.

He supposed could probably count himself on that list as well.

"…maybe we can rest. But I rather not wait to long." he said, staring into deep space. "The Galaxy has shed enough blood already…"

They were silent for a moment...

...

...and then Oz cried out.

"Damnit! They took my fuzzy dice!"

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**Thanks for reading, the please leave a review :)**


	2. The Downward Spiral

**As promised, this chapter prominantly features Liara. Hope you enjoy it :)**

**Thanks, and please leave a review :)**

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_Chapter 2: The Downward Spiral_

_She could see him now. Somewhere in the distance. Just a silhouette on the horizon._

_She began moving towards him. She tried to call, but no sound came from her mouth._

_He didn't seem to notice her, running and shouting. He just stood on the horizon._

_He never seemed to get any closer, no matter how much she ran._

_Suddenly, her knees grew weak. The floor seemed to give away beneath her._

_She was falling, and shouting to him._

_He began to turn…_

Liara's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed slightly, looking around. She paused for a moment, supporting herself on her elbows, before collapsing back down again. She turned her head to look at the clock beside her bed.

_10:32 AM, _it read.

She probably should get up.

She quickly decided against it.

In the recent months since the end of the Reaper War, it had been a process for her, ever morning of lying in bed and trying further more to adjust to things. People had said things would change after the end of the War, for the people personally and galaxy wide.

She could never have comprehended what those changes would be; galaxy wide and personally.

It had been hard to truly understand what their new DNA meant at the time. They were still trying to figure out today. It meant the Reapers no longer perceived them as foes. The fact they had rebuilt the Relays and pretty much everything else was proof of that. Scientists were pretty much just touching on the possibilities their genetic material brought.

And then there was the personal changes.

Despite the victory, and rebuilding of the Relays and Thessia, the new improved relations between the races, there was one, overwhelming thing that Liara had lost that she would never get back. It had sprouted the dreams that she got every so often, like she had this night. On many occasions, it had reduced her to tears.

Shepard.

She didn't need to think about what had happened on the Citadel, what had happened to him. She didn't ever want to. It would only make the pain worse. Sometimes she'd fantasise that he was still there, that while she was working he'd embrace her from behind, or she'd be able to role over in bed and see him lying next to her. Logic had often been a driving part of her though cycle but she found herself playing pretend more and more as the months went by.

It seemed what he had left her – all that was left of him – wasn't enough.

Liara slipped her hand underneath the covers and sat it on her stomach.

This was all that was left of him. She had to take care of it…of her.

Liara blinked, and sat up. Time to get up.

With a sigh, she pulled back the covers and delicately slipped out of bed, ever so neatly getting to her feet. As soon as she got to her feet though she lost the elegance she been exhibiting and stumbled a bit towards her closet and pulled out some clothes. In the recent month after the War she'd started wearing baggy, comfortably clothes as opposed to the clean, neat lab coat she'd always wear; while she was indoors, anyway. She didn't much like people to see the state she was in. Sometimes she'd practice smiling in the mirror so she didn't forget to do so in public.

After pulling on some soft trousers, she went to pull on a shirt, but suddenly caught sight of herself in the mirror across. She paused for a moment; her eyes narrowed, and then turned and looked at herself side on.

She didn't know how long she'd looked like this, but she could see that her pregnancy had begun to show. She was close to her fourth month, although the bulge in her stomach looked quite…big. Not really big, but still quite a change to what she'd looked like months ago.

Although it deterred to how she'd normally behave, she poked the bump experimentally. For a moment, she felt quite angry at the bump for ruining her once preciously well maintained figure. That was suddenly dispelled when she suddenly felt an enormous responsibility fall on her shoulders. When she'd found out a few months ago, the idea of having a baby seemed so far away and alien to her. But now, here it was, this bulge in her belly.

It suddenly occurred to her that she probably looked quite ridiculous, looking at herself in the mirror and poking her stomach. She pulled on her shirt, and walked down the stairs into her living room.

She was surprised she'd been able to get back her old apartment in Nos Astra without much hassle. Then again, there wasn't much she couldn't get her hands on with the contacts she had. Although the Shadow Broker network had severely reduced in strength after the war, but it was still there. It wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be; it wasn't even updated at half the rate it had been. But that didn't stop Liara getting the occasional update. And of course, she couldn't help taking advantage sometimes…

The next couple of hours were nothing special for her. She made herself breakfast; a big one to sate her new appetite brought about by her pregnancy. She cleaned up the apartment a bit. Then she sat down to fruitlessly try to do something she'd been trying to do for months.

Now, she'd often told herself after meeting Javik that she'd write a book on the Protheans, and her travels with the last one left. However, even though she had the knowledge, and inspiration, and the sources, she found there was one thing she couldn't do.

Write.

She'd sat down in front of her computer, by the window that looked out across the city, with her cup of tea made with leaves from the Hanar homeworld, Khaje. And things were going to go the same way they did every day; she was going to sit here and stare at her computer, trying to muster some words before giving up.

She'd come to despise the blank screen in front of her, with the little cursor blinking on and off, waiting expectantly for her to type…something. A lot of the time she'd distract herself by surfing the extranet, just to get away from that accursed blank document. Nothing infuriated her more than than having to stare at that damned page. Sometimes, she thought she was going crazy, staring at it. Like it was suddenly going to become a great sea of endless white wordlessness that she would drown in, her last words being absolutely nothing just like the last three damn months.

It would be melodramatic to say that the dreaded, accursed blank document was a greatest enemy since the Reapers, but it certainly felt like it was.

Liara looked down at the time in the corner of the screen.

_1:42 AM_

She'd been staring at the screen for two hours while words came together and fell apart in her head.

She looked back up at the little black line.

…_damn you, _she thought, and went to check her emails. Give herself a break from the torture.

Liara found she never got around to answering her emails now. She'd always be put off, partly because she sometimes managed to convince herself that it would be better if she spent time trying to think how to start her book (and failing), and partly out of petty bitterness and jealousy. All the emails she got were from people who had something to come back to, something to motivate them and keep them going. Liara longed to have that feeling once again, although she didn't dwell on thinking about it long. She just began surfing through the emails.

Most of them were from Garrus and Tali. They're names were everywhere in her inbox. The ones from Tali were usually asking about her health, if she was okay, how the baby was, saying that she should get out of her apartment more because it would be healthy for her. She spoke a lot about life on Rannoch as well, and living amongst the Geth.

The ones from Garrus were the same, but much more awkwardly composed. The man could shoot you in the head from miles away but he couldn't compose a touching, friendly email without it looking like he'd never done it before in his life.

It was either that or they were talking about…each other.

Liara decided to blank those bits out.

She noticed that in between the horde of messages from Garrus and Tali was the odd one from Kaidan. Liara had always liked the man. He had always been the quiet, thoughtful sort. He always seemed very sincere and honest. He often talked about his work through the messages. Spectre status made him a busy, busy man. There was still rebuilding to do after the war, which kept him running around all over the place. He said a lot of the time that he'd try and visit Nos Astra or arrange some gathering when he wasn't working, although he said that every time and there still hadn't been any progress on that front.

There were a few from Joker. Everyone had some quip in it that was instantly familiar to her. Sometimes she'd smile a bit when reading one of his jokes. It made her feel like she was at home – figuratively speaking.

There was even a few, every now and then, from Javik and James.

Javik's were blunt, grumpy, usually complaints, with some sloppily inserted question about her health. James' were almost always about a sentence long and were about as delicate as freight train going through the side of a building. Something like,

_Hey Doc. Got this assignment today. Bunch of Batarian Slavers. Had to kill the lot of them. Got a couple head shots in there as well. How're you?_

_-James_

_P.S. Sorry about what happened_

The short little bursts into James; world seemed to capture her for some reason. Sometime she'd imagine what it was like on that ship where he got a head shot on one of those Batarian pirates and then immediately wonder why she was thinking about Batarian's grey matter spraying all over the place and get back to reading and not replying to messages. She always appreciated about his little apologies at the bottom, and how he seemed to be the only person not to go into great detail on it, as if on purpose.

She sat back in her chair and sighed, staring at the messages from her friends.

She had not replied to one of them.

_They must be worried about me, _she thought, _and I've been leaving them hanging. They must think I've turn into some social recluse with steadily degrading health. They're all want to talk, and I haven't. _

She sighed, and rested her head in her hands, looking down at the desk.

_I'm so selfish._

After a few moments, she suddenly looked up and stared at the screen with a new found determination.

_Godesses damn me if I leave them waiting any longer, _she told herself, opening the newest message. It was from James. Great! She could reply to James! It was something about another assignment, something to do with almost getting crushed by a crashing shuttle. THAT she could reply to. She could right a whole damn essay on that!

And she would of. She would of written in great detail about how she felt about the newest instalment of the Adventures of James Vega, AND how she was on the end as a bonus.

But then, a little reminder popped up in the corner or the screen. Her fingers froze as she was about to begin typing. She stared at the reminder.

_Baby scan, 2:00 PM_

She looked at the time.

_1:54 PM._

…

* * *

Liara ran like she was being chased by the Reapers once again. She was going to be late. _Late. _She hadn't been late for something since…she couldn't even remember. She didn't even know if she'd been late for something in her life.

She'd quickly dressed into something more appropriate for public, and pegged it down the stairs and out into the streets, hailing a taxi in record time and flying to the other side of Nos Astra where the hospital was. After exiting the taxi, she had commenced running. She almost ran straight into someone about three times. Someone could say all this running could unsettle the baby, but she wasn't about to go soft and be late for something after not being late for almost half her life.

When she did make it to the hospital she burst in a bit too aggressively. A lot of the people waiting suddenly looked up at her, and she had to pause and compose herself, turning quite red in the process. After the people had looked away, she made her way to the front desk where the receptionist, a pretty young human girl, was sitting looking about as bored as possibly. She was playing solitaire on her omni-tool.

"…hello?" she said, to the receptionist, trying to be polite despite the girls rude behaviour.

The girl looked up at her slightly, and her face suddenly transformed into one of those fake, corporate trained smiles.

"Hello, Madame." she said, as though she was straining to sound awake. "What can I do for you today?"

"I'm here for my appointment." Liara said quickly as if the doctor she was about to see would suddenly run out and call her out like the lazy little blight she was.

"Can I have your name?"

"Liara T'Soni."

The fake, corporate receptionist looked back down at her computer for a moment, and then looked back up at her.

"Okay, she'll see you in a few minutes. He's running a little late." she said. "Take a seat in the waiting room up in the Maternity Ward. It's just up the hall to my left."

_Ha. Not the only one, _she thought, suddenly feeling a bit relieved.

"Thank you." Liara said, nodding slightly, before walking away and passing through the doors on the receptionist's left. As she walked away, she saw the receptionist go back into semi-awake mode and start playing with her omni-tool again.

She walked quickly down the hall, not looking into the rooms as she walked. She didn't much like hospitals. Despite what they're manager might want them to feel like, she couldn't help but shake off the feeling that the place was full of pain, illness and bad news. She could hear someone crying as she passed through the door at the end of the hall into the Maternity Ward.

She immediately stepped into the waiting room. It was empty, mostly. There was another receptionist sitting at a desk in the corner, and there was a set of double doors near the desk. There were a lot of comfy little chairs dotted around the place. She quickly sat herself down.

There were a few magazines and such spread out on the table in front of her, but she made no attempt to reach for one. She simply sat with her thoughts.

It was…nicer in here. Less cold and hard than the main hospital. There was something quite cushy about the place. Maybe it had something to do with all the posters and advert about babies and pregnancy that were all over the walls, or the fact it was a lot quieter. A doctor passed through the double doors and began discussing with the receptionist. As the door opened, Liara could hear the sound of crying again. It wasn't sorrowful crying though; it was a baby.

She looked down at her small bump as someone passed through the door she had come through. She tried to picture herself holding the baby, what she would look like. For some reason she had a very good idea what she would look like. She could see a little bit of her mother in her fantasy baby. A little bit of her…a little bit of Shepard.

The doctor left the room, and as the doors swung open she heard crying again.

She sighed. In a few months, that would be her in there, holding a crying baby.

The thought scared her.

"Is this one your first?" came a voice all of a sudden.

Liara snapped out of her trance and looked up. There was a women sitting opposite her, an Asari. She was pregnant, although much further along than Liara was, probably in her eighth month. To say, she was huge.

_Godesses, that's what I'm going to look like, _Liara thought for a second, before answering.

"Yes, it is." she said, subconsciously sitting her hand on her stomach.

The Asari opposite her smiled. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. This is my fourth." she said, setting her hands on her swollen middle.

"I see," Liara replied.

"…you look young. Still in your maiden stage?" the Asari asked.

Liara nodded. "Yes."

"Really? I don't see many Asari expecting a baby that aren't pass they're maiden stage." the Asari said, raising her eye ridges.

"Were you when you had your first?"

The Asari women laughed a bit. "Well…I probably should have been more careful."

Liara smiled ever so slightly.

She sat there for a moment, faltering slightly, and looking down. She sat in silence for a moment.

"…it's worth it in the end." the Asari said suddenly.

Liara looked up at her, and then away. "…I…I didn't need to be told." she said, somewhat ebrasively.

"You looked like you did." she replied. Liara looked to her, and blinked.

"Miss T'Soni? Doctor Krusint will see you now." the Receptionist called over, looking up from her computer. Liara looked to her, and nodded quickly, getting to her feet and walking to the double doors. She paused for a moment, and looked back at the Asari.

"…it was nice talking to you." She said, politely but somewhat awkwardly.

"It'll be alright, dear. Now don't keep the doctor waiting." she replied, smiling.

Liara watched her for a second, and then nodded, turning and going through the doors.

_It'll be alright…? I don't need taking care of… _she thought to herself, but she knew that she felt unsure even as those words appeared in her mind.

She found a door marked with the doctors name, and entered. A Salarian, Doctor Krusint, was standing at the far end of the room. There was a doctors chair in the centre of the room, with a large mechanical arm hanging over it and console next to it.

"Sorrytokeep youwaiting." Krusint said so quickly Liara barely understood what he said. "Pleasetake aseat."

"Umm…okay." Liara said, moving to sit in the chair in the centre of the room. Krusint walked, although it was a very, very fast walk, over to the side of the room and started typing on his computer. He reminded Liara of Mordin a bit, although this man seemed a bit more…jittery.

As she seated herself, Krusint turned to her.

"Ahyes verygood I willrequire youtoexpose your stomachfor thescanto beaccurate misst'soni." he said.

"…I'm sorry?" Liara said as she tried to decipher the mess of words. "Oh, right…"

"I'msorryif Iamdifficult tounderstand mycolleagues tellmealotI talktofast Ithas nothingtodo withthepills IassureyouI feelfineand Iamatthe peakofhealth andIam morethan capableofnot severing the arteryofthat manduring anopperation itwasan accidentIswear."

"…I'm not sure I caught that last part." Liara said, laying back and pulling up her clothing to expose her stomach.

"Itsnothing toworry yourlittle headabout misstsoni. Pleasekeep stillwhile Ifetch thescalpal forcutting I DID NOT SAY THAT ImeanwhileI activatethescanner please keep stillthankyou."

Liara was having trouble listening to Doctor Krusint, but she heard the last part just right, and so she kept still. The somewhat twitchy doctor went to the console, and pressed a few buttons. The heard of the mechanical arm suddenly lit up with a little light, which formed into a little line which moved back and forth over her stomach. Suddenly, and light went out.

"Hmm. Yourchild appearsto behealthy. No abnormalities." Krusint said. "Here look."

A little image was suddenly project by the console of…

Liara stared at the 3D projection for a moment. It looked a bit shrivelled, but vaguely…like a baby.

As the doctor began to ramble on about something, she suddenly placed a hand on her stomach as she stared at the image. Now, after all this time, it really seemed real.

She was having a baby.

And despite the enormous responsibility and fear she suddenly felt, for the first time in a long time, Liara really, genuinely, smiled.

* * *

_"Welcome to Nos Astra. Please contact the registry manager if you have arrived in your own personal craft if you wish to book accommodations. We hope you enjoy your stay."_

Oz and Shalnq stepped out into of the docking bay and looked out across the city.

"…woah." Oz said, wide eyed. "Jesus Christ, look at this place."

"…it is quite…striking." Shalnq said, looking out with his dark eyes.

"Sooooo…we gonna do some sightseeing before we find this guy?"

"I suppose."

"Great! I mean, we're gonna be here a while. We might as well enjoy it."

Shalnq looked out into the city. Despite Oz's excitement, the only reason he was here was to eliminate the next target. But as much as he wanted to get it done with, he didn't want to down heartened his partner…

He sighed. "Yes. I suppose." he said again.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, and please leave a review :)**


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